There may be a prettier place on earth but Yosemite National Park in California is certainly in the conversation. As a hiker and a photography enthusiast it is a wonderful place to visit and I try to do just that every Spring.

I go in the Spring because that is when the snow pack is beginning to melt and the famous water falls of Yosemite are at their greatest volumes. Unfortunately, California is suffering through an historical level drought and I was trepidatious about what the water levels may be like this year.

Well, the water levels were down but they were still roaringly beautiful and the trip was it’s usual wonderful experience.

The first picture posted here is Yosemite Falls. We were licky enough to score a hotel room at the Lodge right near here. It is no great shakes to be honest but once you walk out the door of your room these falls are literally right across the street!

One of our traditions is to hike up the Mist Trail to the top of Vernal Falls. It is a fairly strenuous hike that gets harder every year but each time I reach the top I am captivated by the view back down. This picture is of the falls itself and is what you are looking as you are climbing. Ultimately you get to the very top of this view and are standing next to the falls as it tumbles over the side.

You can keep going past this area and hike all of the way up to Nevada Falls, another few miles of pretty vertical climb. I have not done that but I hear it is pretty impressive.

This next picture is taken from the top looking back on the hike we just did. All we have to do now is go back down! A lot of people think that is harder than the hike up. I’m not in that camp! If you look closely you will see the water going over the edge and forming the top of the falls.

By the way, there at the top is a large rock formation that is quite level for the most part and provides a perfect place to rest and have a picnic lunch. There is a deli down in the valley that makes great sandwiches you can throw in your backpack and take for your epicurean experience at the top of Vernal Falls (the actual name).

A less physically demanding hike, one that almost anyone can accomplish, is the trail up to Mirror Lake. This is one of the areas we really noticed the impact of the California drought. Water levels were way down from the last time we walked this route but Mother Nature has a funny way of making things right. As the water pulled back some, a different sort of magnificence enveloped the area. There was a light rain as we headed up the trail, clouds were hugging the mountainsides and the pitter-patter of the rain created wonderful patterns on the normally glass smooth water adding a dimension only She could create. I took my favorite picture of the trip here. That’s how it is in photography. You might take 100, 200 pictures before you find one that just gets it how you wanted it. Yosemite is one of those places that makes you feel like a better photographer than you really are. Maybe that is why I love going there!

Here you go. Mirror Lake, Yosemite, May-2015.

 

 

 

I kept hearing about Montserrat. “You must go there.” People kept saying.

My friend Hans told me once in an email and then must have felt he hedn’t made his point so he emailed me again, lol.

“You will die a happier man, you are so close! It is incredible'” .

Pretty much had to go after that. My wife encouraged me, people In Barcelona I spoke with encouraged me. So this morning I packed up my gear and caught a train in downtown Barcelona and an hour later was at the foot of the mountain looking up to the monastery.  It’s up there but you can barely see it in this photo. It was beautiful.

The next step was to switch to  a tram that takes you up a steep track in two stages and

drops you off at the monastery.  Officially it is  Santa Maria de Montserrat, run by the Benedictines. The mountains are startling and it looks more like Arizona or New Mexico then Spain. The rock formations are spectacular and the views are out of this world.

If you like you can have lunch here and visit the church, the museum and if course the gift shop…….but the star of the show is the mountain….and the view.

 

I wandered around taking in the view and then had an awful lunch in the cafeteria more reminiscent of a mess hall then a restaurant. I wasn’t here for the food so hurried through the slop and headed to Phase Three, the Funicular train. This little devil holds 48 people and takes you right to the top of the mountain, about 4800 feet.

The views just get better and better.

In this photo one of the funicular cars is headed up and the other is headed down. Once at the top you unload and are able to spend time hiking and exploring the area.

Mostly, though, you are just staring at the incredible views. I don’t know what the monks who live up here do with their time but you can bet your britches that the meditating (when us day tripper tourists have left) is pretty damn peaceful. Nature is a pretty religious experience sometimes.

In any event, I’m glad  I listened to everyone and made this trip. If you find yourself in Spain I’d suggest you do it too! Give it about half a day if you are basing out of Barcelona.

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The reason I write these posts is to drive home the idea of travel. “My” travel nurses and potential travel nurses regularly ask about international assignments. Travel nursing as we know it is largely an American phenomenon. Getting a high paying job with housing provided and all of the benefits you normally look for is pretty much a

USA based opportunity. What you CAN do however, is take breaks between your 13 week travel nursing jobs. There is the rub. You can take trips like this because you have the flexibility to say how much vacation you get. With paid housing as one of the benefits, many nurses are able to salt away the funds for grand vacations. For more information on travel nursing visit here.

I packed up this morning and headed for the train station in Nice, France. It was a great weekend in the South of France but it is time to get to Barcelona! I feel like I am back in the Marines. Well, not quite, lol.

Striking out alone today I caught a train from Florence to Ventimiglia, Italy. From there I jumped on a regional train which took me on into Nice, France through Monaco . I skipped the famous casino in order to preserve funds for the balance of this trip!

The trip itself was fairly uneventful other then the spectacular views as the train winded along the Italian Riviera and on into France. Seated across from me was a beautiful young girl who looked Asian and was jabbering away to her Italian mother in fluent Italian. It turns out her mother is an Italian teaching English to youngsters and since we had a 3 hour train ride we chatted a bit.

Mom, who’s name I never got, married an Irishman from Dublin named McHugh. They lived in Milan and ended up going to China to adopt this girl when she was nine months old….now she in nine years old. The parents got divorced and Dad moved to Barcelona. Still with me? They were on the train to rendevous with Dad who was driving up to take his daughter for a Summer visit.

I asked the little one what her full name was. “Mei Ling McHugh” she said, “but I wish I had an Italian name!”

I told her that her name sounded like an international movie star and she seemed pleased by that.

Only on a train in Europe, lol.

I don’t know of any travel nursing jobs in Nice, France but if you would like to find out about travel nursing jobs so you can take vacations to places like this go here.

Today we hopped a Britsh Airways jet to Pisa, Italy and then caught a RailsItalia train to Levanto via LaSpezia Italy. Levanto is a cool little town at the North end of the famous Cinque Terre villages where we will hike and explore for a few days before heading to Lucca and Florence.

We got a nice, basic B&B staffed by two generations of an Italian family and headed to town on foot for a quick dinner and some Aperon spritzers before getting a good nights sleep for tomorrows hiking.

The weather is warm and World Cup futbol is in the air. The Dutch are beating the Spaniards and the Italians are so pleased that even the local church is ringing bells each time Holland scores. They take this pretty seriously.

Tomorrow? The trails!

If you are a nurse who would like to take vacations like this you might want to consider a travel nursing assignment. There may not be travel nursing jobs here in Cinque Terre but the flexibility you have when working in this unique career will give you the opportunity to take spectacular vacations. You can get more information on this idea HERE.

 

One of the great things about being a travel nurse is the freedom it gives you between assignments. Most people have to work at a job for years before they can take a month long vacation. As a travel nurse you can finish up a 13 week assignment and take off as long as you want (and can afford) before starting a new one.

I love to travel. Everyone says that but some of us set it as a higher priority then others.  I am one of those people and I feel like my life has been greatly enhanced by my love of getting out and about seeing places others only dream about. I am regularly asked to do more in the way of chronicling my adventures so I’ve added this category at TravelnursingUSA.com. I hope you enjoy reading the stories as much I as enjoy taking the trips.- Conrad

This Saturday, June 7th,  I am boarding a United flight at San Francisco International and flying to Europe for a working vacation. I’ll be writing about it here and adding photos and videos of some of the fun stuff. If you are interested in the running commentary please bookmark that link and enjoy trip with me. I’ll be visiting some very cool places and I promise that at least some of the photography will be spectacular. (Tease….England, Italy, France, Spain and lots of trains!)